Research carried out by Knix Wear, a women’s underwear company, polled 500 ladies and found that six words in particular were likely to make women squirm. Speaking to Yahoo Health, Paul Thibodeau, a language psychologist at Oberlin College explained: "The common denominator seems to be disgust, either toward bodily functions or sex." Topping the list? The almost universally loathed "moist", which 77 per cent of women hate. People have a really visceral reaction” to the word, says Thibodeau. “They cringe immediately, so they think it’s the sound of the word that’s triggering it.” "Moist" was followed by "squirt", which 68 per cent of women expressed a strong dislike for. The next one up was somewhat surprising - with 54 per cent of women voting for "panties". Thibodeau believes the dislike for panties is due in part to its dual connotations: one with childhood and one with eroticism. “For a very young person, panties is almost euphemistic — it’s gentle,” he says. But then, “it sort of takes on these sexual properties — it becomes risqué — as people grow up.”